My
Big Fat Greek Wedding was
a film set apart from all others—it was simple, funny, fresh, and undeniably
Greek. The movie pulled out all the stops, and I had to watch it more than once
to feel fully satisfied that I’d gotten a taste of Greek life. Not only was the
movie a critical success, but it was also a massive commercial hit, earning
over $360 million on a $5 million budget.
However, when I
heard a sequel was being released fourteen years after the first, I didn’t
expect much. The first movie caught me off guard and left me overjoyed, but
this time, I didn’t feel the same excitement. The sequel felt all too familiar,
lacking the humor and originality of the first. Instead, the writers pulled
ideas from too many familiar shows and movies, leaving me with a sense of
nostalgia—not for the first movie, but for other films entirely.
The writing also
needed more work. The movie starts with a broken relationship between Toula and
her daughter, which gets resolved somewhere between Toula’s father’s back going
out and their neighbors making fun of the Portokalos family. I guess I must have
missed the resolution because the focus suddenly shifts to the marriage between
Toula’s parents.
The plot begins
by revealing that the Portokalos family is facing financial hardship. Some of
their businesses have closed due to the recession, leaving only the restaurant
still open. Toula’s (Nia Vardalos) daughter, Paris, is acting like Toula did in
the first movie—feeling suffocated by her family and desperate for
independence. With the familiar gag of Toula’s father insisting everything has
Greek origins, the movie’s focus shifts to an upcoming wedding between Toula’s
parents.
For me, the
movie lacked direction and seemed to drift aimlessly without a clear flow. It was
so obvious this movie was made just to get money off the audience, without the
care to entertain.
In the end, the
movie felt like a big rip-off of the first, with no real aim to entertain—just
a hope to cash in on the audience’s love for the original. Whether this movie
will be profitable remains to be seen, but it certainly won’t be the runaway hit
the 2002 film was. I can see it breaking even, but I doubt it will make
enough money to justify a third installment, especially since a TV show based
on the story also failed.
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